Frequent Explorer.exe Crashing Then Opens "libraries" Or "my Documents" Windows [long]

I have a problem that's driving me crazy and no idea how to begin to deal with it. Please forgive the length of this post. I just want to minimize going back and forth to provide details.

I am running Windows 7 Home Premium (legitimate license) on a 64-bit system. My laptop is an HP Pavilion G7-2022us.

For security, I run Microsoft Security Essentials, ThreatFire, Hitman Pro and WinPatrol in real-time mode (they have different functions and don't conflict with each other). My firewall is Windows native firewall. There are various other little monitors to prevent keylogging, webcam hijacking, etc. I have a variety of other file cleaning, anti-virus and malware software that is kept turned OFF (including processes) until I need to cycle through them one-by-one to do preventive maintenance (2 - 3X a year or whenever I'mexperiencing weird behavior or slowdowns).

I have an Orico USB3.0 powered hub in one port with six external hard drives attached (mostly WDs) and two charging phones. Another USB port holds a Logitech Nano Receiver. The third (and last) port is empty. Right now I access the internet through cable Ethernet.

I like to play with new programs and have a large number installed on my machine, but I haven't installed very much in at least a month, certainly nothing I have installed seemed to directly result in this strange behavior.


THE PROBLEM

I've had a problem for a while where explorer.exe crashes. When it reloads — either on its own, by my entering it in "Run..." from the start menu, "New Task..." in Task Manager, or by outside intervention (the Restart on Crash app I installed a few months ago) — not only does the desktop / taskbar / icons repopulate, but either the Libraries or Documents explorer windows open.

I've been having an occasional crashing problem for months. Last year when it crashed explorer.exe would restart and I could go about my business. It may have happened only a few times a day and was probably some conflict caused by having multiple apps open or because of Firefox's infamous memory leaks. The Explorer windows didn't open and take focus from whatever else on the desktop.

At some point this action began and it's really invasive. I can usually continue to work in whatever applications are open, but then these window open and take focus, just under my cursor, what I'm typing or on top of what I'm reading. then I have to wait for the window to fully render before I can click it/them out of the way.

Recently the crashing has accelerated, so this problem is happening multiple times an hour, and the crashing may happen several times in a row. Understandably, this is a real inconvenience when trying to work. I can deal with the crashing. I can't deal with these stupid windows opening and interrupting wherever my attention is, especially when I know that this was not an issue in the past.

I suspect the crashing is due in part to tabs opening in Firefox (where I usually have multiple tabs open). I don't think Firefox is the only trigger, but its the most directly observable and egregious one.

In the middle of last week explorer.exe started crashing and not restart, even via Task Manager's "New task...". I'd have to ctrl-alt-del to the login window and restart the system from there to get back to normal. I dealt with this for two days or so. Somehow, via a combination of System File Checker (sfc), check disk (chkdsk) and troubleshooting startup programs and processes via msconfig, I've at least gotten back to crashes where explorer.exe can be restarted or restarts on its own.

THUS, TWO PROBLEMS TO BE SOLVED:

1. Stop Explorer windows from opening when explorer.exe restarts after crashing, then
2. Get to the root of the explorer.exe crashing
​

WHAT I'VE DONE SO FAR (some several months ago when this all started)

• found registry edits in some reputable forums that were supposed to turn off the Libraries function thinking if it was turned off its window wouldn't open (it didn't help, and for the record I don't use Libraries, which makes this doubly annoying)
• found various solutions in reputable forums that were supposed to stop the windows opening after crashing (others had this same problem, those solutions didn't help either)
• Updated BIOS

Then this past week

• Run System File Checker, then chkdsk, on the boot drive and a couple of the external drives where there is frequent I/O activity (torrents, media files being played in WinAmp)
• run MalwareBytes, SuperAntiSpyware, Spybot Search& Destroy, AdwareCleaner, CCleaner, System Ninja — no malware or viruses except for false positives
• suspecting some desktop related corruption, cleaned up the context menus with ShellExView, ShellMenuView, ShellNewAdd-Review-Edit and a few others. I think these helped in getting back to explorer.exe being able to restart again, but the crashing problem is still here
• Rebuilt the notification tray and notification items and rebuilt the desktop icon cache via registry edits. These fixed a few small problems and helped in the same way the context menu edits did but didn't resolve the main problem.
• Ran Windows Troubleshooter which can't pinpoint a problem
• Made sure Windows Updates are current.
• Uninstalled a few programs that updated around the time this problem ramped up last week
• Tried to parse error messages in Event Manager. See lots of cautions for services delayed in startup (services that eventually ended up starting anyway). Other alerts fall into a few broad, seemingly unrelated, categories.
• A couple of other Event Manager error messages I've seen I'm not sure about (one having to do with Windows Update, one with an external drive)
• Run S.M.A.R.T. and other disk checks on the boot disk and the same two external drives. Health is at 89% for the boot (due to weak sectors, but still classified as Excellent by HD Sentinel) and 100% for the externals
• Cannot system restore. Somehow points aren't save by Windows even though I have it turned on. If I force a restore point (in a third-party program prior to maintenance or file cleaning) they are always saved. Anyway, the origin of this problem is too far back to pinpoint and correct that way.
• Tried to do some detailed hardware diagnostics using HPs PC Hardware Diagnostic (UEFI). It no longer comes up in boot up (F2). Instead there's a crude BIOS embedded version that only tests the hard disk and memory. I reinstalled it twice, to no avail. Research suggests it may be because of the BIOS update, but I don't want to roll the BIOS back to the previous version. (I'm pretty sure when I last used the diagnostic a few months ago it was before I updated the BIOS.)

If anyone could please help me work through this I'd appreciate it. My main goal is to just get those infernal windows to stop popping up after explorer.exe restart. Anything else is extra.

I would very much like to avoid an upgrade install if at all possible. I did one a few years ago and it worked okay, but right now I don't have enough space to back up onto any external drives, which is the only way I'd feel entirely confident doing it.

I'm experienced digging around the system and confident to do whatever is required or suggested. I've gotten great help on these forums in the past (for which I am greatly appreciative) and hope we can work together to solve this problem.​

 

I really need some help here. It's hard to believe no one has one bit of insight into this.

Since I first posted I repaired the file associations for pdf, exe and lnk files. The former was causing issues when I moved pdfs into folders, but was not the cause of the main crashing, nor did it fix it.
Now I'm running the Tweaking.com Windows repair. It's in hour 32 on a 1TB drive and is still on Step 5 (Repair WMI). I have no idea if I can interrupt it or if doing so will screw things up further.

In the meantime am using 6 year old Android tiny keyboard phone to get things done and falling behind severely on work I need to do.

 

The tweaking.com program caused a blue screen in the middle of the wmi repair. I restarted and now can only get ablack screen and cursor in place of the login widow, both in safe mode and regular bootup. Startup repair says no problem is detected. The only system restore points showing are from 2014, even though I did that and a registry baackup in the tweaking.com prorogram prior to starting the repairs. Last known good good configuration goes to the black screen with cursor, too. I'm trying to run system file checker through the co
mmand prompt in f8 Repair Your Computer and am getting message that a system repair is pending.

I really wish someone knowlegeable would make an effort to help me. My problem is the only one posted the last two dyas without one reply.